
russ parsons
participating member-
Posts
1,745 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Everything posted by russ parsons
-
three recommendations, two enthusiastic, one less-so: 1) i'm surprised no one has mentioned do mori, which is about my gold standard for a wine bar. really good hearty venetian cichetti, great variety of wines by the glass. on an alley just off rialto. 2) i'm not surprised no one has mentioned osteria al portego. i'm not sure i could find my way back. this is one of those venetian places you stumble into totally lost and find something amazing. here, it's the array of seafood cichetti: the best i've found in my admittedly limited ramblings. look for it between santa maria formosa and santa marina. 3) fiaschetteria toscana. i've eaten here several times with very mixed results. the first time it was august, everyplace was closed, it was hot, venice was full of germans and i was crabby. my wife and i sat down and i told the waiter (a little rudely, i'm afraid), that we were only going to eat light because we weren't very hungry. i think he took it as a personal challenge. the first dish he brought out was a perfect little plate of crab meat with just a little lemon and a drizzle of very good olive oil. the second was just as good. i called him back over and apologized profusely. we put ourselves in his hands, told him to bring whatever food and whatever wine he thought we would like. it was pure venetian and one of the best meals i've had. so good we made reservations and went back the next night for a repeat performance. almost as good, probably just as good allowing for hte lack of surprise. a couple of years later i went back, called in advance, let them know we wanted a real venetian meal and we got the total tourist treatment. rushed waiter couldn't take care of us, kept trying to push us to white truffles (we'd just come from torino, so we weren't biting). the food was good but the experience was not the same. so, caveat emptor.
-
and as you doubtless know better than me, bill, for a very reasonable fee, sra giacosa will fix dinner for you. i've only done that once but it was a memorable experience. not so much for the cuisine (truth be told, she's probably someone who has been cooked for more often than she cooks) but for the whole gestalt of the deal. almost everything we had was grown on their farm, from the corn for the polenta to the chamomile that steeped in the grappa. i helped and at one point she asked me to go to the storage room to fetch something. there, stacked upright, were hundreds of bottles of barolo from many of the area's best producers dating back to the 1950s. i have such fond memories of that area, i can't believe it's been 5 or 6 years since i last visited.
-
that's too funny. i've stayed htere a couple of times, the first probably 10 years ago. absolutely a marvelous place (matt kramer recommended it). but i never know what to call it. at various times it's been cascina reine, and a couple of other things that refuse to come immediately to mind. when faith w. wrote her first eating in italy, if i remember correctly, she included two different names for it. and neither was la meridiana.
-
i've cooked out of this book a lot (though not the recipes that depend on truffles). i've learned an amazing amount ... pay attention to all the little tips.
-
one of my all-time favorite stories was when i was picking up some cops coverage for the lubbock avalanche journal (i was mainly a sportswriter, also their popular music critic). we ran a daily/weekly? police blotter item and there was a kind of informal competition for who could come up with the weirdest stuff. mine was when a woman working the drive-up window at a burger joint (food reference!), found that the next person in line was the woman who was cheating on her with her husband. they scratched for a bit, then the gal in the car grabbed the woman in the store by the hair and pulled her through the window! god i miss texas.
-
don't fret, gentle reader, but that was an original feature when we went to the web in, oh, 1995. actually, i can't even remember the date. i haven't visited the site in a while (i've seen enough of the food section by wednesday morning), but we used to have a link featuring yours truly giving a 360-degree tour of the new test kitchen. my guess is that's no longer timely and so probably isn't on there. we did get some things right.
-
well, it's nice to know the article stirred up some conversation. a couple of points: I didn't include costco because their selection was so limited and because i didn't think their price break was enough to warrant it ... but then again, i need to point out that i was selecting (or trying to) the best places in southern california ... a market of more than 8 million people. prices were lower and the selection was better at 99 ranch. also, much more whole fish. on the question of whole vs. cut: i think whole fish is always preferable, though it is very hard to find in southern california. some places are better than others (see 99 ranch above), but still there were far more fillets than whole fish. that said, fillets aren't bad at all. i really think teh main advantage to whole fish is that it's easier to judge freshness (the parts that spoil fastest--gills, eyes--are cut away from fillets). but the idea of someone buying a whole salmon so they get the absolute best 2 6-ounce fillets for dinner strikes me as impractical. and i don't know of many markets that will break down a new whole salmon at your request. it also should be pointed out that freshness with fish is a bit of a paradox. of course, fish should be fresh, within a couple of days of being caught, but for the best quality, you want it to be at least a day old (depending on the fish), so it has passed through rigor mortis. until then, the flesh is cottony and the flavor isn't as developed (same as aged beef, except that fish ages so much faster). the other alternative is to use very gentle cooking methods, which diminish the difference. you'll notice that the chinese who make such a fetish of the live fish tanks, usually serve that fish steamed. it is definitely true that the japanese markets serve fish on styrofoam, wrapped in plastic. and it is also true that the japanese markets (at least in southern california) tend to have by far the highest uniform standards for quality. packaging is not an indicator.
-
whoa, steve. i'm going to assume you are not aware that to any serious journalist the term "puff piece" is offensive in the extreme, implying a story that has no other purpose but to provide free publicity for the people involved. i would never write such a thing. i did that story for a couple of reasons: 1) to provide a look inside an important part of the southern california food scene that most of my readers are barred from (the market sells only at wholesale). 2) to provide some ideas to readers who may be more inexperienced about fish about how some experienced cooks approach fish shopping: what they look for and what they think about when they're developing dishes. i think if you'll look at my track record, you'll find that the number of times i quote chefs as experts is pretty small (in fact, that's something i take a bit of flak for). i'm much more likely to talk to farmers or scientists. but there are times when it is appropriate and i hope i can do it every once in a while without someone accusing me of shoddy work.
-
i have to disagree with my esteemed colleagues ms. wolfert and mr. klc, at least in this specific instance. i see a real difference between, say, doing chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, where you look at a dozen or 5 or 6 recipes and then come up with your own version, and looking at one recipe and then making one or two small changes in it. certainly, it's not a matter of legality, but i do think it's polite to give credit where it's due. i don't think it's weak at all. in today's section, i had two recipes, one was "from suzanne tracht at jar", where she wrote out an exact recipe, i edited it, we tested it in the kitchen and made some minor changes. the other was "adapted from michael cimarusti at water grill" where he basically demonstrated a dish of sauteed sardines served on a bed of red pepper-tomato "jam". that one i had to develop all of the measurements and timing myself based on a pretty loose description. but i couldn't in any honesty claim that it was my recipe. i see giving credit as part of acknowledging the larger world of food. even if i have an idea taken from a one-or-two sentence description in something like "honey from a weed," i'll credit it as an idea source. i don't see it as detracting from my work at all and the worst thing that could happen is someone will find that wonderful book who doesn't already know about it.
-
thanks to everyone for their contributions. the package ran this morning.
-
as an utter espresso freak (don't ask how much i've spent on coffemakers, grinders, beans, etc), i am constantly appalled by the quality of coffee served in even very good restaurants. two exceptions: osteria angelini and valentino. i showed up at angelini early one morning to do a story and the maitre d asked if i wanted a coffee. i said sure, not expecting much. when he pulled a blank espresso to preheat the portafilter, i was very happy (coffee geeks will know what this means). he then pulled one of the very best doubles i have ever had. this has been repeated every time i've eaten there. in fact, i'd go so far as to say i have never even had an "average" espresso at angelini. at valentino, of course, excellence is expected.
-
what ever happened to felicin (sp?)? i had some great meals there but i haven't been back to the langhe in way too many years.
-
if you're up for korean, you can have a feast at yongsusan for less than $30 each. prix fixe menu, so no wondering what to order next. seriously great food.
-
the list at the restaurant is large, but not large enough to comprise an entire wine store inventory. it's a seriously good deal, whether you order off the list or from teh store. lots of hard-to-find central coast stuff.
-
and then there is the fetishistic approach we west coasters have to what comes naturally and without thought to italian cooks. victor hazan once told me: "the difference between american chefs and italian chefs is that american chefs cook to surprise while italian chefs cook to reassure."
-
uh, swoody, i live down in long beach. no getting to it. the fish guy at the farmers markets (at least the long beach ones) is pete siracusa. i've been buying from him for years. great stuff if you shop carefully. there's also a good fish person at the torrance saturday market and the pv sunday market. i've just started researching the project, so i'm not anywhere near ready to make any declarations, but i do like marukai and mitsuwa ... very japanese, tuna trimmed in perfect little blocks just right for sashimi, lots of small whole fish for grilling, everything very arranged: octopus tentacles each curled exactly the same. they are fairly close, both physically and quality-wise. also had a big surprise at the fish market at redondo beach pier. it's on the boardwalk, not the actual pier itself. a huge assortment of whole fish, some in better shape than others. also, alas, it looks like fishworld in pico is no more.
-
yes, i think there is an aspect of that in julia's reaction. i don't think she considers julie's attempt to cook through the book hare-brained and impossible at all. she wrote it to be cooked through.
-
hmmm, i thought we'd agreed on another thread that was the true definition of california cuisine.
-
i don't think this is a tale out of class: when i did that story (oh, last fall?), i printed out all of the posts up to that point and took it to julia. she was amused, but slightly not amused. she thought it was a funny idea, but i think she was put off a bit that julie wasn't taking the recipes as seriously as she might have. i guess when you're 90, that whole hip ironic detachment thing isn't quite as charming.
-
a chow, of course.
-
marcella hardly lacked a new york platform. that was where she was discovered, teaching cooking classes. it was a profile in the new york times that launched her career. and while i'll agree that mario comes across slightly buffoonish (that's part of his charm, for me), he's a dead serious cook and really knows his stuff. more important, he treats the cuisine with a great deal of respect. don't let the ponytail, shorts and clogs fool you.
-
hey jfl, you don't know that. this is the internet. i could be russ parsons' dog.
-
bastard! do you know how much i hate those stories? here i am in 100-degree southern california listening to the butt-ugly vinotemp in my store room labor day and night to keep cool. i've got about 40 or 50 cases. been collecting since the early '80s. not much left from those days, though. and, i have to say, for the last 6 or 7 years i've really been concentrating on buying wines to drink right now.
-
i'll second (in some cases, third) the nominations of fred and matt's books on ligurian, friuliano and piemontese cooking (full disclosure, they're both good friends). i also love to cook from biba's books ... more because the food tastes so great than because i feel they're perfectly accurate regionally. anna del conte is, i think, really underrated in the us. i'd also chip in faith willinger's red whites and greens (repeat disclosure here). and honey from a weed is one of the half-dozen books i regularly return to for inspiration. curious that one name seems to be remarkable by its absence: giuliano bugialli. i do like his techniques book. if you read italian, i'd also try to find an unabridged "piccolo talismano" and the spectacular "grande enciclopedia illustrata della gastronomia" ... i've seen several editions published by readers digest, of all people.